


New Old Friends

by writewithurheart



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Episode 1x6, Female Bonding, Friendship, Gen, Missing Scene, they talk about things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 19:18:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13083618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writewithurheart/pseuds/writewithurheart
Summary: Nico and Gert have a conversation after the Gala in 1x06.A little taste of their comic friendship thrown into the tv show. Because I need more female friendships in this show.





	New Old Friends

**New Old Friends**

“Do you think other kids have to deal with this shit?” The question spills out into the silence as Gertrude stares out at the fancy cars from all the donors here tonight. She’s always hated these events and taken solace in the fact that her parents are just as miserable as she is. The Yorkes didn’t revel in money. Their heads were more in their lab than in their bank accounts. 

Nico glances at her, jumping slightly. “Gert...I thought…” 

“I was Alex,” Gert fills in. She covers the pang she feels with a sarcastic smile. “Looks like you’re stuck with just me.” 

Instead of answering, Nico shifts over so Gert can sit beside her on the bench. Just like that another piece of Gert’s icy heart starts to melt. The stone of the bench seeps through her dress and into her thighs, but it feels nice sitting here in camaraderie with Nico. She’s been feeling like the odd man out lately, what with Alex and Nico doing their flirty thing and Chase pining after Karolina. She’s basically been Molly’s glorified babysister. Don’t get her wrong: she loves her sister, but she feels like an outsider. 

“What happened to us, Gert?” Nico whispers. 

“Uh, we found out our parents are occult murderers.” She really doesn’t know what else to say. Amy died and Nico was sucked away by her grief. They all were hit hard, too young to know how to deal with their grief. 

“Yeah, but before that. We were friends once, Gert.” Nico nudes her shoulder. “You used to steal all my My Little Ponies and set them free in the woods.” 

Gert snorts, rolling her eyes. “They were unfairly captivated. It was inhumane.” 

“We were six.” Nico laughs, her voice slightly rusty sounding, as if unused to the activity. 

This is the friendship Gert missed. She leans back into Nico. “I stand by my actions.” 

“I expected nothing less,” Nico admits, her head coming to rest on Gert’s shoulder, awkward in the height difference but she makes it work. “How did everything end up ass backwards?” 

Gert swallows the lump in her throat. “Amy died. You dyed your hair black.” She remembers the day Nico returned to school and sat down at the cafeteria. She recalls talking until her throat dried, until she nearly lost her voice trying to fill the silence around Nico. She had tried to wrap them in a secure bubble, a moment when Nico didn’t have to be reminded of Amy every moment. “And then we just...fell apart…” 

As hard as she tried, Gert hadn’t been enough to hold them together. 

“We didn’t fall apart,” Nico says quietly. “We just didn’t try to stay together.” She sighs. “Mom stopped letting people come over. She...It hit her hard.” 

A door opens and music from the party filters into the little bubble Nico and Gert have made for themselves. The music is nondescript, a blend of classical music that is bland enough to fade into the background as the rich people talk but interesting enough to fuel conversation, maybe even a bit of dancing. Over the music, there’s laughter, a canned sound brought out when you’re talking to someone you want to impress. It’s all fake. 

“I played your mom’s Star Wars game,” Gert blurts out. She fights the responding smile and blush as Nico startles and turns to face her. 

“What?” 

“The Atari game in the lobby?” Nico nods so Gert continues. “I had to distract the guard while you and Alex were on your little adventure, and I ended up playing the game. I think they were hitting on me.” 

Gert pinches her lips together to stop the pleased smile. The social justice image she wears like armor would normally be something she brandished here to show her indifference to heteronormative flirting practices, but here, as she’s trying to salvage her old friendship with Nico, she feels like she can finally admit it. She liked that they thought she was cool, and not just because she was wearing a dress and heels. 

“The security guards?” Nico’s eyes pop out of her head. 

“Yeah,” Gert laughs out loud, body shaking with mirth. “I mean, creepy since I’m underage, but it was also kind of flattering. Most people are just scared of me.” 

“We could start a club.” Nico announces. “The Boys-Run-Away-From-Us Club.” 

“Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Gert quips back. Her amusement fades a moment later. “You’re gorgeous, Nico. I know of at least two people pining for you.” 

Nico shakes her head. “Alex...there was something off about him today, Gert. He guessed my mother’s password.” 

“Your mother’s? The woman who runs a billion dollar tech company?” Gert frowns. “It unlikely, but my parents’ password is password. Either that or my birthday.” 

With a sullen shrug, Nico focuses back on the skyline. “It was just odd. And then we come back and I find out my dad’s been sleeping with Chase’s mother. Da fuck is that about?” 

Gert throws her hands in the air. “Who the hell knows, but after finding out about the rest of their Murder Club, I’m not really surprised. No offense.” 

“I’m still processing.” 

Gert reaches out awkwardly, wrapping an arm around Nico’s slim shoulders and pulling her into a partial hug. They haven’t shared this much since Amy passed but it feels good, familiar. It feels like they never stopped being this close. She wants to tell Nico everything, to tell her about her huge crush on Chase - the one she ABSOLUTELY does NOT have - and the resulting rivalry with Karolina that she doesn’t want but can’t seem to stop. 

Her jealousy - which she KNOWS is stupid because Karolina isn’t even interested in boys - can be put to the wayside right now. Nico’s hurting right now. This moment here is the start. The start of their healing, the start of their renewed friendship. Gert leans into Nico more and sighs. 

“Growing up sucks.” 

Nico snorts. “Tell me about it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! Kudos/comments/bookmarks are greatly appreciated. 
> 
> You can find me on tumblr with the same name.


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